A New Life
by Cat7231
Summary: What would happen if Alex just walked away from MI6? Where would he go? What would he do?
1. Prolouge

Prologue

Alex paused slightly after writing his postcard to Ben. Did he really want to do this? The answer was of course yes, he had to. If he carried on at this rate he would be dead before his 17th birthday and that was only a month and a half away. He could hardly stand on his feet he was so tired and yet MI6 had him running around for his life while every other agent got the day off. It wasn't right but nobody could pull them up for it. Not only were they above the law but there were also very few people who actually knew what was going on who actually cared and not one of those people was in a position to do anything about it.

Ben and Smithers would both lose their job if something arose against Alex being a minor but pulling more than his fair share for the country, not that they hadn't already tried. Tom and Sabina were both underage and so could not take MI6 to court anyway. Tom's parents knew nothing about Alex and Tom was having a busy enough time to stop them from killing each other. Sabina was in America and had not seen Alex in a while and so did not really know the toll MI6 was having on him. He certainly didn't want to worry her anyway. And Jack was dead. Alex still winced at the memory even though it had been nearly 3 years ago now.

No Alex had to do this. He wiped away the tear that was forming in the corner of his eye. He had not cried in so long. He was surprised to realise that he had not shown a single emotion in about a year. This was yet another reason he was leaving.

He couldn't go on in this way.

He picked up 2 bags. One held everything he personally owned. There were 2 pictures in it; one of him and Ben and the other was of his parents and uncle the day before his parents died. It had clothes and gadgets and anything and everything that could be linked somehow back to him.

The other held a set of plain clothes, a phone that he had bought about an hour ago and had not used yet, money, a set of green contact lenses and some brown hair dye.

He set the contents of the first bag around the room. He threw the clothes around and placed the photos on the set of draws by his bed. He jumped on his bed and made it scruffy. The flat looked like he had never left. The kitchen was messy and there were plates stacked ready to be washed. He surveyed his work. It was perfect. It had to be.

He picked up the second bag and walked out of the flat that he had been staying in for the last few weeks and on to the street. He posted the postcard to Ben.

Then he disappeared.

* * *

><p>Ben walked into his and Alex's flat after a long day at the Royal and General. Who would have known that paper work would be so tiring? He didn't bother to answer that. He knew that there must have been a reason Alex chose school over the paper work. Unfortunately Ben didn't have that option. He normally just had to sit around and help with the fact considering that he had only really just started with MI6. After all, he'd had a medical leave so that he could rest after being shot in Australia; a luxury Alex never got. He'd only done about 5 missions in 2 years. That was nothing compared to Alex; nothing at all.<p>

"Where was Alex anyway?" Ben found himself thinking. Wasn't he meant to be back by yesterday? He was only gathering information after all. Not a hard mission for him.

He picked up the post from that had come through the letter box that morning; a postcard and a bank statement. Thank God it was a real one not just a summoning from his work. He flicked the postcard over to see who it was from. There were just 5 words.

_See you in Hell Ben._

It was written in such perfectly formed letters that anyone else would have thought that it had been typed. Ben recognised the handwriting immediately but what did it mean?

* * *

><p>Ben walked straight up to Blunt's office with only 2 questions in mind; what did the postcard mean and why did Alex send it to him? He knocked twice sharply at Bunt's door before letting himself in. He threw the post card on the desk so that Blunt could see the writing.<p>

"Where is he?" Ben demanded, not caring if the answer was classified. Ben just wanted answers.

"I don't know." Blunt sighed. "He stopped reporting last week and no one has heard or seen a trace of him since. SCORPIA haven't reacted in anyway. It was like nothing had happened. I was hoping that he just forgot to report but he didn't come back yesterday or report the day before."

"You mean he's . . ." Ben trailed off not wanting to say it or make it final.

"For all intents and purposes, yes, he's dead."

"And you didn't think that something was wrong when he didn't report? He always reports. He's too good just to not bother. He's your best damn spy and you know it! How can you just . . . Don't you feel any remorse? Are you even ashamed that you used him and ended his life so young?" Ben rambled, tears falling silently down his cheeks as he shouted at the head of MI6. Then he was silent for a moment as he stared Blunt straight in the eye with a look of pure hatred. He turned sharply on his heel and walked out pausing only when he was closing the door to croak, "How could you do that you soulless bastard?"


	2. Chapter 2

Joe Howard ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair. He seemed somewhat surprised when his fingers came free only a centimetre from his head. It was not obvious but he seemed nervous. If you studied him for an hour or so, which was exactly what the driver had been doing, you would notice that he turned to look over his shoulder every couple of minutes. His fingers twitched towards his belt whenever someone spoke or looked at him. The driver did not know this of course. He wasn't good enough. The driver just thought that the man was a little different to the people he often drove around.

The man himself seemed perfectly normal. A short crop of very light brown hair, almost blond; blue eyes; average height; average weight; athletic, although this was not surprising from where he was going.

"So you're joining the SAS huh?" The driver asked trying to start a conversation. They had been travelling nearly an hour now and not a word had been uttered between them apart from where to go and how much it would be.

"Yes." Joe replied shortly. Not harshly, just hinting that he was not about to start a conversation.

"You seem young. How long have you been in the army?"

"I've been serving my country for just over 2 years now. I've seen more than most." The driver just nodded, not knowing what to say to that. It showed in Joe's eyes that he was not willing to talk about it. It hurt him to see that someone who looked so young could be so broken.

They pulled up alongside the gates of the army barracks. The driver had discovered no more about the soldier sat behind him than when they had started the journey but the silence was not uncomfortable. The 2 men were just left to their own thoughts; offering each other the same privacy and peace that they both so desperately wanted.

"Name please." The soldier at the gates asked as Joe got out of the taxi.

"Joseph Howard." Joe replied. The soldier nodded and passed him through the gates while the taxi turned away.

"The Sergeants office is on the left in there," the soldier said pointing to a barrack. "Number 11 I think it is. It's on the end anyway." Joe nodded, a little surprised at the soldier's accepting and generally friendly attitude. He didn't get that often and he certainly hadn't been expecting it. Joe regarded and thanked him with a wary look and the soldier was taken aback by his unemotional face as he turned and walked away. What could have happened to that poor man so that he did not trust anyone, even one on the same team?

"Come in." The Sergeant barked as he knocked on the door. Joe stepped inside and silently closed the door behind him before standing to attention and saluting. "Joseph Howard." He asked, more as a statement than a question. Joe nodded and the Sergeant continued. "I've heard a lot about you and your talent but very little of what you have actually done. You seemed to have appeared out of thin air 2 months ago and astounded your training group so much with your talents that you were redirected here as it was believed that your talent would be put to better use." The sergeant paused. "I don't like not having my questions answered. Care to tell me where you learnt?" The sergeant ordered.

"I used to shoot with my uncle regularly when I was a boy. He too was in the army. He taught me everything I know." Joe said with feeling saddened at the memory but none of it reached his face and the Sergeant certainly knew nothing about it.

"Let's hope that you've more than just a good shot if you are to survive here. I will take any opportunity I get to bin you. If you do not keep up, you get binned. If you disobey orders you will be binned. If you cause problems of any kind you will be binned. I'm sure I will find a way to bin you somehow." the sergeant studied him for a minute. "You will now be known as Jaguar. What are you still doing here?" He barked.

Joe turned quickly on his heel and walked from the room just as silently as he had entered. The sergeant heard no footsteps in the hall outside his office door, nor did he hear the opening and closing of the outside door which often slammed loudly even with the softest of touches. Yet as he looked down the hall it was most definitely empty. Something was going on but he didn't know what. There was something different about that man. He seemed young, underage perhaps, but yet his file and his eyes told a different story. He was 23. He seemed perfect in everything he had done so far; no one could fault him, but yet something didn't add up. The sergeant did not believe that there was such a thing as a perfect soldier, or even a perfect person for that matter. It just couldn't be true. He was lying somehow and the Sergeant would find it out.

**What do you think? You've probably already worked out who Joe actually is but for those who haven't it will become clear later on. This is my first FanFic so I am a little nervous about whether or not it is any good. Is the chapter the right sort of length? I was planning on making it a little longer as I know how annoying it is to have really short chapters. I will update soon so please review! **


	3. Well I'm    um    Cheetah?

**I have added a prolouge. Sorry if you were disappointed when I didn't add the next chapter! It will be out soon I promise!**

Chapter 2

"When do you think he's going to get here?"

"I wonder what he looks like."

"And what he's done. I mean, when the sergeant briefed us that we would get our new team member he was muttering about his file and him being so 'god damn perfect'"

"It would be good for our rep if he was good. I mean we're not really that good compared to the other units with bear gone."

"It doesn't matter. We weren't a full unit; they can't blame us for not being to keep up."

"They still do. I wonder if he's any good though."

It all came back to the same question; "When do you think he's going to get here?"

Someone snorted and made them all jump. "He's been here the whole time." Joe said whilst sitting up on his bed. He couldn't believe that they hadn't noticed him. He'd just been lying there reading a book for the last 5 minutes when they were talking about nothing but him. "I'm Jag by the way." Joe said smiling for the first time since he arrived at the Brecon Beacons. The other men just stood there staring at him, mouths open and eyebrows raised. Joe fidgeted, uncomfortable in this awkward spotlight. Why couldn't he have just made a normal entrance? Why did he have to be so different?

Suddenly the room was full of questions like "How long have you been here?" and "When did you learn to be such a ninja? That's so cool!"

"I've been here the _whole_ time," Joe said repeating himself. "I got here about 5 minutes before you guys got back from the assault course." Joe paused while the other men just stared at him as if to say 'how the hell did you know that we were at the assault course!'

"Your boots are scuffed round the edges and the mud on your uniform is still wet. That and Cheetah left him timetable on his bed," Joe grinned while the others just muttered 'twat' in Cheetah's general direction. "As to your question Hawk, my uncle taught me. He's just cool like that."

"Um no offense Jag or anything but how old are you? You look like you should still be in school for God's sake!" Boar exclaimed. Badger raised an eyebrow at the last comment. "What? I'm Atheist." Boar stated as if he thought that was a reason.

"So am I. I just thought that you'd be a little more tactful about the 'you should still be in school' part," Badger grinned almost laughing at their leader before thinking better of it.

"I'll take that as a complement as I'm 23," Jag grinned. "Everyone thinks I'm younger. I don't get it! Most people think that I'm about 17. It means I have to carry and I.D. everywhere and it makes it almost impossible to buy a round of drinks at a bar." Jag sighed.

"Oh. Right. Sorry it's just that you look . . ." Boar stopped looking for the right word which wouldn't insult Jag further.

"So young?" Jag added finishing the sentence for him. "Don't worry about it. I get it a lot. I'm used to it." Jag said offering Boar an easy smile. "So come on, tell me a bit about yourselves now." Joe said turning towards Cheetah smiling expectantly.

"Well I'm . . . um . . . Cheetah?" he said somehow making it sound like a question. They all laughed at him.

"Only you could say something so obvious and yet make it sound like a question." Badger said struggling to get the sentence out between the laughter. Cheetah blushed beet red at first but then laughed at himself.

"I don't know how he got into the SAS but he keeps all of our moods up no matter how depressing the situation is. He's the joker of the unit and I don't think he even means to be!"

"Of course I do! Don't you realise how hard it s to make you guys laugh when it's raining on exercise and we're not even half way?" Cheetah exclaimed trying to back himself up. "I'm the fastest and I have the best shot in the unit by far I think you'll find." He carried on, feeling the need to prove himself to the newest member of the unit. Cheetah was by far the slightest of the 3 men. He was quite tall and lanky and you could tell from his build that he would be the fastest. Boar and Badger were just too broad to have the same speed.

Badger rolled his eyes at the comment but he couldn't deny it, Cheetah _was_ the fastest and he _did_ have the best shot.

"I'm John Barker and the unit's medic. I'm told that I'm good for a laugh and that I'm quite easy going." Badger smiled. Joe thought that he was quite modest as well. He didn't go all out to make himself the best in the unit at anything. He was calm, collected and yeah, easy going.

Boar snorted "He's about the only sane person in this unit. If there is anything you want to tell someone it's Badger. He can keep your secrets."

"You sound like you speak from personal experience Boar." Cheetah commented. Boar blushed which just looked totally wrong on their unit leader. "Is there something that you're not telling us? You know how dangerous that could be in the field don't you?"

"Come on Boar if you're not going to tell us your secret can you at least spill something for me? Everyone else has."

"Oh . . . err . . . okay . . ." Boar mumbled thinking about what to say. Everyone burst into laughter. He had reacted in just the same way in which Cheetah had.

Joe leaned back smiling to himself for the first time in years. His eyes softened a shade and he realised that even after everything that happened he could be happy again. His life would get better. It just wouldn't be his own.

**Thanks so much to all of the people who reviewed. I thought about giving him a different name but couldn't find one which fitted him so well. I really am useless with names so sorry if there are other unoriginal ones. I know that the plot isn't very original but hopefully I can add a new twist to keep it interesting. I was planning on involving K-Unit at some point or at least Fox along with some of the classic scenes! I might use a little PTSD just for you It'sFun2BCrazy but it won't be a major part of the story. I hope you liked the Chapter. Please review!**

**P.S. I have added a prolouge. Sorry if you were disappointed when I didn't add the next chapter! It will be out soon I promise!  
><strong>


	4. It's all your fault

Chapter 3

"Come on Jag! We're going to be late for dinner at this rate." Badger called from just outside the barrack door.

"Is it really 1830 already?"Jag asked tucking his bag under his bed as he got up.

"Yup, it is. I know what you mean though. It feels earlier doesn't it?"

"It's because we had the afternoon off so that we could get to know each other a little better. But don't worry, we're busy again tomorrow!" Boar said rolling his eyes with obvious sarcasm.

"Come on guys, I'm starving!" Cheetah yelled as he started to jog towards the mess hall.

* * *

><p>Jag went to sit with his unit when he had his food, if you could call that mush food. They had pulled up another table beside theirs so that they could sit with B unit. They looked hard on the outside, but then so did most SAS men. It just came with the job description. As one of them turned towards him he could see the spark in his eyes. He hadn't been into battle yet. Those eyes were still innocent. They didn't see shadows around every corner. Jag hoped that they never would.<p>

"Are you sure that he's got the right place?"

"He looks a little young don't you think?"

Jag hated people muttering behind his back. Why didn't they just come out and say it to his face? Why did they hide behind his back? Something flitted across Jag's face. One would probably think that it was confusion, maybe a little irate. It was gone before they could place it. It was replaced by a cold, blank mask; perfectly devoid of any emotion. Anyone who saw it flinched back slightly. The muttering stopped.

Jag let a smile twitch at the corner of his mouth before turning back to his unit. He didn't want them to see that side of him so soon. Not when he had only just joined.

He laughed and he smiled but none of these actions ever reached his eyes that night. If you watched him closely his expression turned sour when no one was watching. The terror ran back into his eyes, the eyes of someone who had seen too much. They were haunted and riddled with nightmares that no one could make go away. They were scars for life.

He had had enough of everyone looking at him. The whispers had stopped but people were still watching him. His senses were going haywire; it set him on edge too much. They had kept him alive so far but he had to learn to turn them down a bit if he was to fit in here.

He picked his plate up abruptly making everyone on the table jump. Every action he had made that day had been smooth and silent; so much so that hardly anybody noticed them. Yet as the chair scraped along the floor, some looked surprised to see him sat there. Not many people noticed him and it would ruin his cover one day. He had to stop it now.

* * *

><p>Jag closed his eyes as his unit came back into the barrack. He hoped that they thought he had gone to sleep.<p>

They fell silent as they saw him and got changed quietly before going to bed themselves and fell asleep.

Jag drifted off slowly but dreaded the long night ahead. He hadn't slept soundly in months and even that was when he was in hospital so high on aesthetic that he couldn't really do much else apart from sleep.

He could see them all dead before him; Jack, Tom, Yassen, Ian, John, Helen, Boar, Cheetah, Badger, Wolf, Eagle, Snake. People from his school were there as well; random people he had seen in the streets; even those who he did not think of as a friend, like ASH. He saw them all die silently. But it was Ben who spoke.

"This is your fault Alex." Ben muttered almost inaudibly. "It's _all_ your fault."

Jag's eyes were open in a flash. His breathing was laboured and sweat was dripping down his face. He convinced himself that it wasn't real. Ben had always been there with him for every step of the way; helping him through everything that happened. He didn't know what he would have done without him. Ben had never blamed him for anything.

He saw that his unit were sleeping peacefully he truly allowed himself to rest for once.

He was safe now.

He didn't have to sleep with one eye open anymore.

**Hi guys! Thanks for reviewing and all the support I'm getting I always thought that no one would want to read what I'd written (I don't know why) and I never let anyone read it. This has been such a great boost to my confidence so thank you all so much!**

**I can garentee that Ben will appear. Yes alright I admit that I skipped ahead just to write that one chapter! I am still undecided about K-unit although they will probably be included a chapter or 2 after Ben.**

**Sorry about the length of this chapter. The next one will be added soon and will be longer I promise!**

**Please review. I love hearing your comments and I can only write what you want to read if you tell me what you want. I will try to include atleast a little bit of everything that you suggest so long as it fits with my plot.**

**Thanks again,**

**Cat**


	5. Some kind of freaking ninja?

Chapter 4

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Boar moaned and pulled the pillow over his head.

Beep.

Beep.

Bee-

"Not a morning person, are we Boar?" Jag asked as he turned off the alarm; already dressed and ready to go. Boar scowled at him but rolled out of bed as Jag smirked.

"How the hell did you get dressed so quickly Jag?" Cheetah muttered. "Wow, you got Boar up on time as well? I'm not sure that's happened in like a year. We're _always_ late and it's _always_ his fault!" he exclaimed, dragging the 'always' out for as long as possible.

"I wouldn't go that far Cheetah. You know that we have hand-to-hand combat later today right? And Boars not exactly the most easy going and forgiving person in the morning now is he?" Badger said slyly with a grin sliding across his face.

"Uhh . . ., we have hand-to-hand combat tomorrow idiot." Cheetah replied smartly.

"We normally do yes . . . but today we have Jag's assessment idiot." Badger replied mimicking Cheetah. Boar rolled his eyes as they made their way towards breakfast on time for once.

* * *

><p>"So Jag, we're starting with endurance today. It's just a general fitness test. How many press ups, sit ups, chins ups and stuff like that you can do in 3 minutes. Then you're going on a timed 5 mile run with Boar. Not too bad really, just to see what fitness level you are." Badger said whilst walking over to one of the barracks used as a gym.<p>

"Okay, just tell me when to start and where and I'll get started." Jag smiled in response.

Jag started with the sit ups. Some of his old wounds twinged a little but nothing that he couldn't handle. He'd been living with most of them for over a year now. He hardly thought about them anymore.

When Cheetah's watch beeped, Jag moved on to the press ups and Badger wrote the number down. This continued and with each number Badger wrote down his eyebrows raised little by little. At the end he showed the results to the rest of the unit. Cheetah let out a low whistle when he saw the numbers.

"But he's not even out of breath!" Boar exclaimed, looking at the results again trying to spot the mistake. "Are you sure that you counted right?" Boar asked Badger quietly so that Jag wouldn't hear. Badger nodded.

"I know. It seems almost too good to be true somehow doesn't it? I just hope that the rest of his assessment is this good. If it is then I don't think that we'll be the bottom unit for much longer." Badger said happily.

"Mmm, I know." Boar said, still staring at the man in wonder.

" . . .You can ask him when you're on your run." Boar picked up the last of Badger's sentence.

"Ask him what? Sorry I phased out there." Boar asked jolted back to reality. Badger rolled his eyes.

"I said that you could ask him where he trained and why his fitness was so good because you've got your 5 mile run next." Boar groaned as Badger turned away to give the fitness form to the Sergeant, laughing as he went.

* * *

><p>"So did you get anything out of him?" Badger asked, jogging up to Boar after they had finished their run.<p>

"No. He said that he did some running with his uncle when he was little and that it kind of stuck with him. That was all he said. He didn't seem to want to talk about it really. I didn't really get much of a chance at the speed he was running." Boar replied, still breathing heard and walking in a circle with his hands behind his head.

Badger risked a glance at Jag. He was laughing with Cheetah. He didn't appear to have done any kind of exercise at all. Jag turned and caught his eye before grinning at him. Badger looked away. Who was this kid; some kind of freaking ninja? Boar was one of the best at general fitness in the whole contingent; and yet he was dripping while Jag wasn't even breathing hard!

"Do you mind if I take your pulse and breathing rate Jag? Just for the forms you know." Badger lied. In reality all he wanted was to see if any of that exercise had affected him in the slightest.

"Sure. Go for it. Didn't realise you needed it for the forms." Jag winked at Badger, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile. How the hell did he know Badger was lying?

* * *

><p>"Okay Jag. All you have to do is swim to the other side of the lake and back freestyle. We time you. Nothing special; although if you are as good at this as you were your fitness, we may well think that you're cheating somehow." Cheetah said light heartedly. Jag hesitated for a second or 2 then pulled his shirt off and throwing it to where Cheetah was indicating.<p>

He heard someone behind him gasp.

Jag turned back to his unit closing his eyes knowing what was coming. His skin was marred with so many scars that you could hardly see any unblemished skin. He had forgotten what he must look like to those who were not used to him.

"What the fuck happened to you?"

**Hi guys,**

** Sorry about the really late update for the last 2 chapters but I was away at a national sailing event so didn't really have the time (or my computer). I've uploaded this one on time though so i'm back on track.**

**The results for Jag's assessment will come through in one of the later chapters once he has finished his assessment. is his assessment too brief or do you want me to spend more time his results and his units reaction to them?**

**Please tell me what you think.**

**Cat**


	6. A piece of cake

****Disclaimer: I'm not Anthony Horowitz so no I don't own Alex Rider.****

**Chapter 5  
><strong>

"_What the fuck happened to you?"_

"Oh yeah," Jag paused hesitantly, "You means the scars? I was in a car crash a few years back."

"How long ago was it? Some of these look serious Jag! You should have told us!" Badger yelled, the medic in him coming out. Jag muttered something incoherent. "Is that a bullet wound?" Badger gasped looking pointedly at his chest.

"Err . . . no. People in the army asked that too. I think it's just from some of the glass got stuck and they had to operate to get it out or something. I don't really know but I've got a few of them." Jag rambled an explanation pointing to 1 on his arm, 1 on the back of each shoulder blade and some on his knee caps and stomach. Boar ground his teeth. He didn't like the idea of his unit getting hurt.

"I want to do a proper physical evaluation when we get back alright? I don't like the look of some of those cuts. Are you sure that they don't affect you?" Badger asked concerned.

"They haven't affected me in years guys," Jag lied. "I'm fine I swear."

"When was it? It sounds like a bad crash, we might have heard about it on the news." Cheetah asked.

"May last year; right outside my school in London, Brooklands comprehensive if you've heard of it." Jag answered.

"Oh my God, I didn't realise there were any survivors from that! You must be incredibly lucky to have got out of that mess alive yet alone without being put permanently in a wheelchair." Jag smiled a little pausing to think_ that's because there weren't any survivors for you to hear about_.

"I was in hospital for ages then had to take 2 months off just so I could recover. I also moved to live with my uncle because, well," Jag didn't know how to put it. So he just swallowed and felt a tear prick at the corner of his eye thinking about his own parent's death. L-unit seemed to take the hint.

"I'm sorry, we didn't realise." Badger offered while Boar just looked away.

Cheetah just nodded which was a little off from his character. Normally he would be the first person to break the awkward moment. Yet he seemed to understand better than Badger or Boar. Jag wondered if he had lost someone close to him.

* * *

><p>After their dip in the lake, in which Jag had again not disappointed, they headed off for their combat training. L-Unit had been quiet since they had discovered about Jag's injuries and parents. They still bantered away with each other but there was no boisterous attitude and no loud or insulting comments were being thrown carelessly around as they normally were.<p>

As they entered the barrack, the instructor walked over.

"I was just going to let you have a free practice today so that I could assess you all to check your improvement and to see where we need to work on next. It would also give your new member," the instructor paused and gestured to Jag looking expectantly.

"Jag." Jag supplied easily.

"Your new member, Jag, would also be able to prove himself as a fighter and I would be able to help him to get up to standard whilst you practice amongst yourselves." He paused then turned back to the rest of the unit, a slight glint in his eye. "I'm sure that you would appreciate the time off from your rigorous training program."

"Now Jag," He questioned when the rest of the unit turned away to practice. "have you ever studied any form of martial art?"

"Yes sir, I have tried my hand at most forms but I have only really studied Judo – back belt, Karate – first grade Dan, Muay Thai, fencing, with a little bit of taekwondo, wrestling and jujitsu."

"Now really," The instructor said a little amused as though he thought that it was lie but also slightly awed if it was the truth. Jag just smiled as though that was hardly scratching the surface of his skills. "This should be a piece of cake for you then."

"Mmm, I'm sure it will be." Jag replied, flashing the instructor a cocky grin.

The instructor smiled before moving into a defensive stance. Jag followed suit and soon they were testing each other; a sequence of jabs and kicks, lashing out so fast that if you blinked you would miss it. They were circling slowly; the instructor seemed unaware that the other had stopped fighting to watch, he had eyes only for his opponent, but a small smile flitted across Jag's face proved that Jag new they were watching. _Now it's show time_ Jag thought to himself as he moved in to attack.

Jag moved almost imperceptibly. One moment he was circling, feigning a gentle attack with his left, then the next he was punching the instructor in the gut so hard that he doubled and stepped back with his right hand. The instructor had been fooled. He had fallen for a simple trick to make someone believe that you were a lefty. When he looked back up ready to defend from another attack Jag was gone. Then a back kick came at him before he even knew where Jag was and the instructor stumbled again. Jag was good, very good.

Jag had to force himself to concentrate; he could hear the jeers from when he was fighting Sunthorn in Bangkok, he was falling into a lull, all of the fights he had been in came flooding back, Sunthorn, Nile, the virtual video game, Yassen, Mr. Grin, Dr. Three. He moves were becoming wild and deadly. He had to remind himself that he was not fighting for his life. This was just a practice spar. No one would purposely injure him or put in hospital. None of his unit would do that to him. But he still had to remind himself over and over again.

After being thoroughly beaten but him the instructor backed off and signalled for the whole unit, who had been watching with their jaws on the floor, to attack.

"Let's see how you do when you're out numbered Jag," the instructor said knowing who would win. You would need at least 2 of their best units to be able to bring down that kid.

Jag nodded and redirected his offensive manoeuvres. He lunged at Cheetah swinging them round so that Jag ended up with his back against the wall. Now at least he didn't have to worry about someone attacking from behind. He could see the whole unit. He took more of a defensive role but still attacked when he was given a good opportunity. He was taking les risks now that he had more people to fight.

The instructor called the fight to stop after about 20 minutes. Cheetah had been knocked out twice and Badger had to sit out for about 10 minutes after taking a couple of strong blows to the chest, winding him. Boar had stumbled though it much like the instructor had but had been pausing when the rest of his unit had been active. He was breathing hard and looked as though he was about to drop dead on his feet.

If Jag had been given another couple of minutes the whole team would have out of the fight. The instructor had a feeling that when it was just Boar that jag had been going easy on him. Whether this was to give himself a breather or just to not hurt Boar's moral remained unknown because Jag was hardly breather hard. He just walked slowly around the room, pulling a few stretches as though he thought that that was just a warm up.

**Hi guys, **

**I could have made this one longer as he is shooting next but then you'd have a really short chapter after that so I thought I'd balance it out for you. It's still my longest chapter so all is good :).  
><strong>

**2 quick question, am I making him sound unrealistically good? I want to make him better than most because he's older now and he's had loads of field experience but I still want it to be realistic (or as much as it can be).**

**Secondly, I need names for chapeter 2, this one and preferably the prolouge as well. Are the other names okay? Is there anything that would suit them better?  
><strong>

**Thanks for all the great reviews! Please feel free to ask questions or coment on where I can inprove. I don't mind critisism so long as it's constructive! 2 more chapters then Ben comes in, I promise!**

**Cat**


	7. Bloody spies

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. Anthony Horowitz does.**

Chapter 6

"So Jag, have you ever shot before?" Cheetah asked when they were walking towards the shooting range.

"Yeah, my uncle started to teach me when I was little so I'm quite good. He used to take me clay pigeon shooting sometimes." Jag said, answering as truthfully as he could.

"Okay, we'll start with just an ordinary range the head over to the DCCT range so that you can get your grouping and have some fun with the scenarios*." Boar grinned before asking, "What weapons have you fired?"

"With my uncle? Just his air rifle but when I was with the army I got to use most of the weapons and had similar results." L-unit just nodded to Jag's response, a little mystified at how good he really was with a weapon. The sergeant said that he was a good shot and he didn't give out praise easily.

"Okay then Jag, if you could strip, oil and assemble this then we can get going." Boar said handing over a weapon.

Jag nodded and registered the weapon as a semiautomatic A2 rifle. It was perfectly balanced in his hands as he held it. As he sat down, his fingers were already popping the pins out. Jag almost winced at the carbon build up on the weapon. It was useable yes but it wasn't going to be as slick as it could have been. He oiled it lightly before putting it back together, promising himself that he would clean the weapon himself after firing. It only took a couple of minutes before Jag was ready.

Boar gave Jag the go ahead as he lifted the butt of the rifle comfortably into his shoulder, his cheek resting against it. It didn't feel foreign or heavy to him. It just felt like an extension of his arm; like it had been attached to him at birth. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply twice then opened them and fired.

4 shots rang out before he had even realised that his finger was on the trigger. He panicked and pulled the 5th upward slightly, just wanting to get it away from the bull's-eye. He didn't care where it landed so long as all of his shots were not perfect. That would draw too much attention. People would ask too many questions. They would ask about his training; his past.

Little did Jag know that he'd just made things worse for himself.

The others finished shooting and they went to see their targets. As Jag neared his target he could see that there were 4 little holes in the middle of the bull's-eye as expected. Each of them overlapped but not quite in the same hole. He had pulled the last shot upwards. He looked to see where it had landed. His heart plummeted; he could feel his heart beating faster in his chest. It had landed straight between the eyes of the target. Each shot was taken with accuracy only an assassin could achieve; each shot was fatal. "Damn instinctive firing," Jag muttered to himself.

"Is this your target Jag?" The sergeant asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it is," Jag mumbled almost inaudibly.

"I thought you said that your uncle taught you! Not a professional!" Cheetah exclaimed, a little offended by the fact that Jag had lied to him.

"My uncle did teach me, he was just good. I also had a few lessons a couple of years back I guess." Jag muttered a little louder trying to cover his tracks.

"Then he needs to come here and teach the recruits! If only half of them were as good as you we'd be doing great." The sergeant said, oblivious to the fact that Jag's uncle would never be able to teach them.

"He can't." He said bluntly.

"Why the hell not?" The sergeant demanded.

"He's dead." Jag stated, turning away to hide the sorrow in his voice. The rest of L-unit saw that he was upset anyway. They didn't pester him for any more details about his uncle but they were beginning to wonder what family he actually had left.

"Sorry Jag. I didn't, uh, realise." Jag just nodded and walked back to the firing end of the range.

* * *

><p>The Sergeant was not having a good day.<p>

The new recruits had been here for just a few days but they were already getting on his nerves. It was the way that they thought that they were so good just because they were in the SAS. Some of them were so far stuck up their own arses, in his opinion, that they didn't even realise that they were the worst here by a long shot. He could deal with that so long as they wanted to learn and improve. After all, they were the newest, they had to learn at some point right? But this was only the start of his problems.

The older units who had been in the season all year were coming back at the end of the week. The sergeant always planned the recruits to come at the same time if he could. This meant that the new recruits could see how pathetic they really were. Unfortunately it meant that he was very busy when they were all here. In some ways the seasoned units were worse as they thought that they had nothing new to learn. Of course this wasn't true. They still had everything to learn.

Both sets of recruits that they knew best and rivalled with each other like there was no tomorrow. On top of that it was essential that they all learnt so that they would survive in the field. But these were just his own problems which happened every year without fail.

Then there was MI6 and everything seemed to get a whole lot worse.

Blunt had recently . . . lost an agent. They didn't even know if he was dead or alive. He had simply disappeared. Yeah, they had recently lost an agent. Not just any agent either. It was their best. Rumour had it that he was THE best, as in the best in the world. But that was only a rumour. The truth was that he was so highly classified that almost no one knew anything about him. He took his orders straight from the top and only had one living partner. Not even his partner's name was given.

No he was told to keep his eyes open for this agent. This agent he didn't even have a name for, they said he wouldn't use it; no physical description, they said that he would change it daily; no background knowledge of, they said that didn't matter. He had nothing on him but yet he was meant to catch him they had given him one thing.

They said to look out for . . . talent; for someone who didn't fit the mould; for someone who was just too good to be true. They said that they would send someone over to see if it was him.

That was when he had received their email.

They were sending one of their agents back for a top up training. They did not tell him who. They just simply said an agent. They said that he was to train with his old unit so he presumed that he must have been an SAS soldier himself at some point. He knew that all agents had to re-train ever year but did it have to be this week? Especially with everything going on right now.

And then there was Jaguar.

At first he thought that he was seeing Cub again. He reminded him of Cub in so many ways. But Jag is 23 and Cub would be turning 17 about now. Unlike Blunt, the sergeant did believe in coincidence.

He had seen Jag's test results. They were ridiculously good by anyone's standards. His scores seemed only broken by regularly Leopard's and he was the best recruit to pass through the camp. The sergeant chastised himself. Leopard wasn't a recruit. He had trained with the SAS for sure, but he had worked for MI6. He had disappeared years ago now, 17 years to be precise. He was now little more than a legend. The sergeant wondered if he had settled down, but he really knew that he had died.

He had heard rumours about Leopard being a double agent; something about him going to prison as well. He didn't believe a word of it. That man had a heart of gold.

The sergeant didn't get log to ponder on the mystery of Jaguar before he heard a sharp rap at the door making him jump. Bloody spies, he thought to himself.

"Enter," he called out and the man stepped inside the door.

* * *

><p>"So Jag, do you speak any languages other than English?" The instructor asked.<p>

"Yes, many," Jag replied honestly. The instructor nodded. "I speak fluent French, Spanish, German and Japanese with enough accents to pass as a local in most regions. I am nearly fluent in Russian. Oh and I also speak a bit of Mandarin and Italian."

"_Now really, either you really are an exceptional student or that's one massive lie. I hope for your sake that the first is true because lies are not appreciated in the SAS_." The instructor replied in French.

"_I really do speak all those languages. I can prove it to you if you want_." Jag replied in fluidly in the same language.

"_We'll see about that. Tell me about your job before you came to the SAS in Spanish please_." The instructor asked without realising what problems that put Jag in.

"_I finished school I went to university for a couple of years then I became an international banker until 2 months back when I joined the Army before being redirected here. Is that enough?"_ Jag answered as truthfully as he could.

"_It will suffice. Now tell me about one of your friends in German_."

"_His name is Jerry Harris. His parents are getting a divorce so his younger brother Tom now lives with him in Italy. He's quite sporty and loves a bit of danger. He taught me how to BASE jump a few years back."_ Jag said deciding to describe Tom's older brother as he was closer to his presumed age.

"_Good, how did you meet him_?" The instructor asked in Italian.

"_I used to go to school with him at Brooklands School in London. Tom used to go there as well until he moved to Italy with his brother. I started learning Italian when I was staying with them in the summer_."

"_Could you tell me a little about your parents_?" Jag forced himself to wince at the question.

"_They died in a car crash 5 years ago so I would rather a different topic_." Jag replied to the question in Mandarin

"_I'm sorry, I didn't realise. Do you have any siblings_?" The instructor asked.

"_I'm an only child_."

"_Any pets_?" he asked hopefully.

"_We lived in a flat in the middle of London, so no_."

"I'm sorry what other languages did you say that you spoke?" The instructor asked, reverting back to English.

"Japanese and Russian."

"I will finish your assessment next session as we have run out of time." He commented nodding at the clock before turning to pick up is coat.

"_There's plenty of time for just 2 more languages. We still have 10 minutes_." Jag commented in Russian.

"I said that's enough Jag. We're finished now. Someone else will finish your assessment tomorrow." The instructor said getting annoyed.

"_Do you not speak them or something? There's no reason to get pissed_." Jag joked in Japanese.

"_I think he's just pissed because you speak more languages than he does. Who are you anyway?"_ A new person said walking into the room replying in Japanese.

**Any guesses who this new person is? Or who Leopard is?**

***A grouping is where you shoot a load of rounds at the target and they measure how close together they are to see how consistent you are. A DCCT range is a virtual range but with scenarios rather than just an ordinary targets. Its' used for training as the weapon fire a laser rather than actual bullets. The scenarios are just like a field exercise and at the end you are told how many of the enemy you hit.**

**As to calling a gun a weapon the whole time that's just a habit of mine from our school CCF. They get really annoyed about it so I guess the SAS would too.**

**Alex already spoke most of those languages fluently to start with and as you might know once you've learnt one language learning another is a lot easier. Also he must have picked up a little Italian when in Venice and mandarin is well he most spoken language (I think) so it would make sense that he knew some. I would have also thought that he learnt Russian mainly out of respect for Yassen.**

**Thanks for the constructive criticism j'aime lire ****J.**

**In answer to your comment nagagoo Alex is just about to turn 17. I know its kind of confusing at the moment but all will come clear in a later chapter at some point I promise!**

**I have decided just to go with him being awesome. I know its kind off cheesy but it would be odd to change it now. K-unit will be coming back with some of the other units. I have FINALLY decided. Is the chapter length any better on this one? I promise I will work on his emotions. Still the same question for chapter names.**

**Please tell me what you think in a review, it really makes my day!**

**Cat.  
><strong>

**P.S. Just corrected some of the spelling mistakes in this. Hopefully its better now.  
><strong>


	8. Spying on Spies

**Disclaimer: I don't own Alex Rider. Anthony Horowitz does**

Chapter 7

Jag turned to see the new person before turning away again quickly.

"_Please don't over react_." Alex muttered in Japanese to the man.

The man looked momentarily confused before gasping. It was too late. The man had seen him. Jag, realising this, turned back to him, so that nothing worse could happen.

"Fancy seeing you here!" Jag exclaimed grinning like he was seeing a friend from his past.

"I thought you were dead." The man croaked sorrowfully.

"Mmm, so did I it was a nasty car accident wasn't it?" Jag hinted hoping the man would catch on. He turned to his unit."This man's an old school friend of mine. That's how he knows about my, err, accident 5 years ago. It was all over the school, everyone knew about it. I was away for a while then I went to school somewhere else so that I wouldn't have to deal with the rumours. They all thought I was dead." He quickly explained to his unit; distracting them while the man pulled himself together.

"He knows my full name obviously, Joe Howard, and everything about me up to a point. His name is Ben-"

"Saunders. I think I can introduce myself by now Joe." Ben said winking at him catching on to where this was going.

"Jag, this is Fox. I would introduce him to you but you obviously already know him. He's an honorary member of K-unit. You haven't met them yet." Boar added pointlessly.

"What do you do now that you've left the SAS Ben?" Jag asked grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm just a banker now. Fairly normal job; couldn't stand the action, you know?" Jag would have snorted and rolled his eyes but that would have ruined his cover. Luckily, Cheetah did it for him. Ben looked at him questioningly. Once a spy, always a spy; even when the people around you know who you really are.

"I must have just missed you then. I was a banker before I joined the army 2 months ago." Jag said looking genially interested while Ben just looked mildly amused.

"Oh really? I never realised that you had an interest in economics. Remind me what your A-levels were again?" Ben asked now grinning for ear knowing full well that Alex had only taken his GCSEs last year (and then quit school to work full time for MI6), and managed to scrape a pass grade no matter how much time he had spent doing extra-curricular activities, yet alone taken his A-levels.

"Maths, Physics and Tech. I think you must have confused me with our dear friend Jerry Harris. He's off teaching his younger brother, Tom, BASE jumping in Italy at the moment." Alex said, desperately trying to remind Ben of their 'friend'. Ben's eyebrows raised a fraction but you would not be able to tell unless you were watching. He covered it well.

"You told him that you were alive but not me?" Ben asked looking offended, Alex realised that he thought that he had told Tom.

"I sent you a postcard! It's not my fault that you were too thick to realise that I was still alive! I didn't even have a funeral, did you really think that I was dead?" L-unit looked amused that Jag had just called an MI6 agent thick.

"Yes I bloody well did Al-" Ben cut himself off before redirecting the conversation as though nothing had happened. "I've only just gotten over it! I was planning a funeral for you for next week, if you cared." Ben muttered the last statement so low that only Alex could hear.

"Of course I cared Ben! How could I not? You knew that I had to get away, we'd talked about it before. I couldn't make it obvious that I was still alive or _they'd_ be all over me again." L-unit watched them with confusion now. This was obviously becoming personal now so they left, deciding that they could ask Jag about it later.

Alex dropped the act as soon as his unit had left. He nodded to Ben and they both swept the room for any camera or hiden bug that they could possibely be in the room. They pulled them all out and threw them into the corner of the room before dismantling them the smashing them to pieces and throwing them outside. Neither of them said a word until the 3 bugs and 1 camera they had found had been smashed and destroyed beyond repair. Once they were both satisfied they both turned to each other and grinned.

"It's good to see you Ben, sorry I shouted at you." He said pulling Ben in for a brotherly hug.

"I missed you, but you've got to admit, you were kind of convincing with the scene that you left. You just vanished." They stood there for a moment grinning like idiots, just happy to see each other again.

"Ben," Alex asked nervously, "Did you get my . . ." He trailed off, not wanting to know the answer.

"Yeah, I locked them in the chest of draws in your room. I guessed that you'd want them back at some point." Ben smiled knowing what Alex was talking about. Alex nodded his thanks.

"I knew I could trust you Ben." Ben nodded, already knowing this. He was glad to be one of the few people Alex actually trusted in this world.

"I know that silly. Did you ever doubt me?" Ben said in mock offense while Alex just grinned. "Then question is whether you trust _them_." Ben sobered hinting at L-unit which had just walked out. "Have you told K-unit or Tom?"

"No, just you. I'll find a way. Just not right now in front of a whole load of people." Ben nodded before commenting.

"When you say that you 'told' me, you really meant that you would send me an unnamed postcard saying that you'd see me in hell."

"Sounds about right." Alex grinned while Ben rolled his eyes.

"I thought you might actually mean hell. You always say that we'll both go to hell because we've just done so many bad deeds; even if it was for the good of others."

"Firstly, you're an idiot for thinking that. Secondly, we probably will if it exists. Thirdly, I'm not Christian so I don't believe in any of this religious stuff anyway. And fourthly, I ONLY ever say that in front of either Jones or Blunt because I knew that you'd go and show them that postcard. Honestly Ben, everyone knows that this place is nicknamed hell on Earth."Alex said, gesturing around the camp and making Ben feel a little bit of an idiot.

"That and the fact that I broke into our flat to crash and get some supplies the night I got back in England." Alex grinned.

"I knew it! I knew someone had been through your stuff!" Ben exclaimed and Alex just laughed. "Just to burst your bubble though Al, K-unit are coming tomorrow and that disguise of yours ain't fooling anyone. I mean your hairs a shade darker and shorter and the contacts are good idea and all; hell I don't even know what you did to your nose! But if anyone really knows you, you're the same. You still look to young to be in the SAS."

Alex grinned, "I already have that one covered Ben. But is K-unit seriously coming tomorrow?" Ben nodded the affirmation. "Well shit."

"It'll be fine Al. You've dealt with SCORPIA so many times that you can no longer count them on your fingers but yet you're still afraid of telling your unit that you're not dead?" Ben laughed.

"Well yeah Ben; it makes perfect sense." Alex smirked.

"I'm sure it does Al," Ben smiled and then coughed, "to your messed up brain."

Alex just smiled, ignoring the comment and asked, "Are you okay Ben? You sound like you're coming down with something. I think you should go to the hospital." Alex winked.

Ben's eyes widened before he started to protest. It was well known that neither of them liked spending time anywhere near the hospital or even a medic. They were both guilty of hiding wounds (even minor gunshots!) and treating themselves because the hated hospitals so much. It might have had something to do with the fact that they were normally only ever there because of a fatal injury after a mission gone wrong. Or maybe it WAS that mission they did together when . . .

It was too late for Ben. Alex had already collared him around the neck and has half dragging him – half laughing – towards the medic's barrack. There was no hope for him anymore. He was going to get something for that none existent cough. It might have been called revenge though rather than a medicine of sorts.

* * *

><p>There was something odd about Jaguar's and Fox's reunion, the sergeant thought. He didn't know what. What they were saying made sense, the more he reasoned what they were saying the more he found himself believing it but then they started talking about bankers.<p>

Everyone knew that every spy working for MI6 covered their work by saying that they were bankers. They even covered the building by saying that it was the Royal and General bank! It all fitted but didn't at the same time. Just like when these 2 soldiers talked.

The sergeant heard the argument which started between them. It was of trust. This was real. He heard Fox slip up. He had it recorded on tape. He would have to go back to hear what he actually heard. It was only because the conversation dramatically changed direction that he even noticed it!

He saw the rest of the unit leave. May be now the 2 'friends' might be a bit more honest with each other now that they thought that there was nobody there to hear them. Maybe he might find out the truth about this Jaguar person was. Despite himself the sergeant smiled with glee. He forgot that good things came before a fall.

Next the weirdest thing happened. They both went completely silent. At first he thought that there was something wrong with the bugs. Of all the times they could go wrong! But then his ear filled with the sound of static and then disappeared. One of the bugs was dead. It had been found and destroyed. Next the camera stopped transmitting. After another 2 rounds of static the sergeant had nothing left to spy on the spies with. Whoever Jag was he was good. He must also be classified, very classified.

**Hi guys, **

**Firstly don't expect updates this quickly as the last one took forever to write! I just felt bad about sitting on it all week when I had already written half of it before I had finished ch. 4.**

**What do you think of this naughty sergeant? I think its original but please correct me if I am wrong. It certainly puts a slightly different spin on it!**

**Thanks for the great reviews and you were all right, it was Ben! I have only had one guess for Leopard though. He's not that hard guys!**

**I now have some chapter names for all bar one, but I am still open for suggestions.**

**Please tell me what you thought of it in a review and as I always say, they really do make my day!**

**Cat**


	9. Naughty Sarge

**Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Alex Rider.  
><strong>

Chapter 8 – Naughty Sarge

They didn't get as far as the medic's barrack. They didn't even get out of the door. Ben must have thought that Alex had pitied him as after taking 2 steps towards the door he stopped, let go of Ben and started talking about something completely random from mid-sentence.

"That time when Jerry told us that his brother was called Tom? We laughed so hard t that. I still think that his parents must have a funny sense of humour." Alex chuckled under his breath, tilting his head towards the door. Ben chuckled as well, picking up that there must be someone at the door. Ben created another random memory about this supposed Jerry character.

Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his Ipod. It started to play a random conversation about memories that Alex had. All Ben needed to do was laugh along with them. He set his Ipod on the table. Next he silently tossed the key to the door to Ben; signalling for him to take position at the door.

Ben crossed the room making the floorboards creek to cover any sound that Alex made as he opened the window and climbed out. He took the last few steps silently so that whoever it was wouldn't back away. Ben looked over his shoulder. He had forgotten how good Alex could be when he wanted to be. As it was Alex had made no noise at all. There had been no need for his cover. Ben snorted at how stupid he was.

Alex had slipped out of the window and eased it shut behind his as to give no escape when they had their spy inside. He then doubled round to the door, pulled his pistol out of its holster to take the safety off.

Alex rammed his shoulder into the spy's back forcing him through the unlocked door. The man hit the door at quite a force, breaking the handle and jarring the door. In a moment of shock he stumbled on impact and fell face first onto the panelled floor inside.

A piece of cold black metal was pushed against the back of the spy's head and another safety clicked off.

"Fox, could you turn the tape off now?" Alex ordered.

"Sure thing Jag." Fox replied as though Jag had meant it as a question. As the chatter about old memories stopped abruptly the man realised that he had been fooled by the ruddy spies.

Jag pushed his elbow further into the man's spine making him wince slightly, before cuffing his hand together and tying his feet together with rope.

"What the hell do you think you're up to Jaguar!" the man yelled "I'll have you binned for this! I'll make sure you never get a job again!" The man screeched. Jag looked at the man for the first time.

It was the Sergeant.

Alex though 'well hell' while Fox laughed at the sergeant's comment.

"I can still pass word on you too Fox!"

"You do that, they won't care. I'm the 2nd best, well the best they've got anyway." Ben smirked."Jag will still have a job anyway. With a talent like his there will always have someone ready to give him one. Whether or not it's legal is another issue." Ben trailed off winking at Alex.

"Are you saying that I can't hold down a normal job? Answer wisely, it may be damaging to your health." Alex grinned rolling his eyes. Ben just eyed him warily and stepped away for the effect.

"Just saying that your *cough* age *cough* makes it *cough* illegal *cough*." Ben coughed very unserupticiously **(AN. Is that even a word?)**.

"Are you sure that you don't need to see that medic Fox? Your cough seems to be coming back again." Alex grinned evilly while Ben just rolled his eyes this time.

"I still haven't been released here! And what's this about your age Jaguar?" the sergeant growled threateningly.

"And you're not going to be anytime soon. Fox was just reminding me of something which hasn't bothered my _employers_ for years." Alex said joyfully before turning back to the sergeant in disgust.

"I never thought that it would be you who turned against me, you didn't actually have a reason to hate me before this I don't think. Care to shed some light?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." The sergeant muttered.

"I think you do. You were spying on me. That doesn't tend to go down too well." Alex replied sharply. Ben resisted the urge to snort and say 'you got that right'.

"And why might that be?"

"Because. I think I'll be doing the questioning thank you. Now enlighten me."

The sergeant was shaking with fury. "Who the hell do you think you are? Giving me, a higher ranking officer, orders!"

"I know perfectly well who I am thank you. And it's not something I care to share. In my less official line of work I am privy to a few secrets and I can assure you, when I see a higher ranking officer I will follow their orders. Until then you will just have to follow mine."

"You mean almost every state secret didn't you?" Ben asked encouragingly. He was still a few short of Alex's record of secrets.

"You think I'd fall for that? In your dreams Fox. And like I said, just a few."

"So you're both assassins turning traitor on you country." The sergeant said accusingly.

"No and don't you dare even think that again. We've done more for this country than you could even think of."

"Sure you have, ridding the country of men you are paid to kill. Or do you work with drugs instead?" the sergeant sneered. "You don't look like it, but you never know with those types."

"Now -" Ben started knowing the things that were said to Alex when he went to school.

"Really? Please do explain why that would be the case." Alex asked feigning interest.

"Well you look too scrawny, you know, too sickly that kind of thing. I don't even know why I accepted you into the SAS." Alex simply raised an eyebrow and smile twitching at the corner of his lips.

"I think that you're an assassin because of the way you walk. You're silent in everything that you do. That's just not normal. Fox obviously knows you and I don't think that it's from a school. The conversation was just too spontaneous; the way that you told him everything about you in 6 sentences so not to blow your cover. I didn't even realise that you were lying until Fox slipped up and called you Al-."

"Mmm, I always was superior to him with acts and covers. Then again it's my whole life. Now back to you. Why were you spying on us in the first place?" Alex said turning the conversation away effortlessly.

"Why wouldn't I be? All the cameras run on my computer continuously and I heard raised voices so I took a look to find you and Fox shouting at each other before the rest of your unit left and then all connections went dead. So I looked back at the tape before coming to find out what had happened to my devices. That's perfectly legal isn't it? Unlike you on the other hand." He sneered.

"I don't buy it. I'm phoning HQ. What do you want to do about . . ." Ben trailed off.

"I dunno, he doesn't appear to be openly lying but it's better to be safe than sorry. I'll phone Jones' number anonymously. I'll tell her that I've been informed that there is a situation in the hills. That should be cryptic enough to give me enough time to get out."

"You have Jones' personal number?" Ben stared.

"I wouldn't have said it otherwise." Alex's eyes crinkled. "Trust me when you get to my level of clearance you don't need to be given it."

"You mean that you work with the SO?" The sergeant asked, his heart sinking with realisation with what that could mean for him.

**Hi guys,**

**Sorry this was late but I have whole load of GCSEs coming my way at the moment and don't really have much time to write. I know that it's a little short but couldn't resist the cliffie. I know that not much really happened but it took forever to write. The next one has much more going on.**

**Nope its not finished yet, i still ave a few things I want to happe Thanks to all those who reviewed. I'm glad to see that people like it :) Hahaha, I knew you all knew who Leopard was but just wanted to check!  
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**I hope you liked it, please tell me what you think in a review.**

**Cat**


	10. Without a trace

Chapter 9 – Without a Trace

"_You mean that you work with the SO?" The sergeant asked, his heart sinking with realisation with what that could mean for him._

"No shit Sherlock." Alex said turning on the sergeant. "No if you'll excuse me, I've got a call to make." He said walking out of the room picking up his phone off the table and scrolling through his contacts to find Mrs. Jones.

"Nice name for her," Ben said chuckling under his breath looking at Alex's phone over his shoulder.

"Mmm well I couldn't just list her as Tulip Jones could I?" Alex murmured.

"Yeah but just Bitch..."

"I thought it was fitting. You should have seen Blunt's if you think this is bad!"

"I don't even want to know. Anyway, I'll leave you to make that call then." Ben smiled and walked back to the Sergeant.

* * *

><p>Mrs. Jones froze as the phone in her back pocket began to ring. That it itself was not a particularly weird thing, peoples phones ring all the time. The thing that made this one so different was that it was <em>her<em> phone. Not many people even had he personal number; especially no one from work. She just didn't trust many people with it. All it would take is one foolish person and her number would be accessible for all.

What was even stranger was that she had given each of her contacts a different ring tone so that she knew who was calling. This wasn't someone she knew. Her number couldn't be guessed as it was no ordinary number, it was far too long, but it also needed a code to actually get through to her phone.

She pulled it out of her back pocket and stared at it for a few seconds just to confirm her doubt before answering it. She signalled to her assistant to start tracing the number. As soon as she answered the person at the other end began to speak.

"There has been a breach of security at the Brecon Beacons regarding Sergeant Phillips. Immediate assistance and orders are needed. Have a nice day Tulip, Oh and don't try to trace this number. It won't go down well." A man stated clearly, but with a light Russian accent, before hanging up. Mrs. Jones stood in shock, holding her phone before her still registering what had happened.

"Did you get a trance?" Mrs. Jones asked her assistant who had quickly scrambled together a team who were currently furiously tapping away at their computers, each of them typing a couple of lines of code before being caught with a password to hack. After about a minute of this one of the computers crashed and a message saying 'I told you so' came flashing up on the screen. Then one by one the signal of the number was lost from each computer as they continued to trace it.

"I'd say no. By the looks of it, it was untraceable anyway but the signal has been turned off now. We won't get it back now that we've lost it." Mrs. Jones sighed and turned back to her computer to see what was actually going on at the Brecon Beacons.

* * *

><p>"Mission accomplished. Now I just have to get out of here before Jones gets here. Tell L-unit I had a family emergency or something. And keep him locked up until she gets here will you?" Alex asked as he walked back into the room.<p>

"I will. Oh and Al? Be back by the 19th will you." Ben winked as Alex smiled at his comment muttering the words 'I'll try' under his breath.

Ben smiled at him for the last time and Alex nodded before turning and starting to jog away into the hills. Within minutes he was out of sight.

Ben just sighed, it was hard to believe that only 10 minutes ago he had still thought that Alex was dead.

"I'm in deep trouble now aren't I?" The Sergeant asked quietly.

"Yeah, you are. Why did you even try to spy on us to start with?" Ben commented.

"I don't know. Jag has just been a mystery from the first time he stepped foot here and I guess I just wanted some answers. If you don't mind me asking, who is he?"

"A dead man walking; the best of the best; the last of the family with the luck of the devil; the only agent with a 100% success rate. It's funny, even when he 'died' about a month ago, he still had to send in the information he was sent to collect just to keep up his record." Ben smiled sadly before turning away. "Jones should be here soon, she'll want to interrogate you, do us a favour and don't mention Jag will you." The sergeant nodded questioningly.

"I thought he worked for SO?"

"As a manner of speaking, yes he did do missions for them, but he never worked for them. He's not under any of their records, apart from other people's." The Sergeant raised a questioning eyebrow at this but Ben just shrugged it off. "Then he 'died' and came here to escape without them knowing so I think he would very much appreciate it if you didn't ruin it all for him."

"So he's not working for them?" Fox paused for a moment before nodding slightly. "He 'died' to escape them? Is that even possible?"

"For him? Yes definitely. For anyone else? They'd never get away with it."

"But doesn't it mean that he's like probably an assassin now? I mean who, with those kinds of skills doesn't work for SCORPIA?" Ben noticeably winced at the name.

"No he's not an assassin; his morals are way too high. He hates working with a gun. And trust me; he would never ever work for SCORPIA. Not after everything they've done to him" Ben muttered the last part but the sergeant still heard it. He sent Ben a questioning look but he simply shook his head in response.

"You might want to be thinking of a more convincing story by the way. Jones is never going to fall for that." Ben called as he left the room. "Time to hack that footage now then I think."

**Hi guys,**

**I have to say a massive thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, favourited and even just read this story because otherwise this update would probably never have come. I was just reading through the story and just said to myself 'this is so crap' and with my exams and then the start of a busy summer holiday I just never got back into it.**

**Then I saw that people were still reading and reviewing and realised that I had to finish it for you guys so here goes. I will get this finished no matter how long it takes me. I promise.**

**Anyway I know that this one was short but I just wanted to get it updated and didn't know how to get it to flow onto the next bit. Sorry about that.**

**Please read and review. I love to know what you guys think and it really will help.**

**Cat**


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